extracurricular clubs and teams focusing on academic development. As of the 2012-13 school year, the high school sponsored chapters of the National Honor Society, National Art Honor Society, National French Honor Society, National German Honor Society, National Latin Honor Society, National Spanish Honor Society, and Tri-M. Students also annually publish the Muse literary and arts magazine, the monthly Torch newspaper, and the annual Artisan yearbook. Students can compete with interscholastic academic teams in Quiz Bowl, Speech, Memory, and Math. In 2013, the Memory Team won the High School National Championship of the USA Memory Championship in New York City. Mechanicsburg hosts a variety of fund-raising and social awareness events throughout the school year. Lift For Life, a charity weightlifting competition is held in early March at the High School to raise money for kidney cancer research, in honor of Don Shirley, a Mechanicsburg High School baseball coach who died of kidney cancer. Mechanicsburg also sponsors a chapter of Key Club. Music program Marching band The Mechanicsburg High School Marching Band is the school's marching band . They are called the Wildcats. Local residents, members, and fans associated with the group also refer to them as the "Maroon Machine." History Mechanicsburg has a rich marching band tradition going back to 1929. They began competing in the Tournament of Bands in 1988. 1988: First win at Tournament of Bands Chapter VI championships. 1989: First appearance at Atlantic Coast Championships, placed 2nd in Group 3. The show included music from Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring, Candide and Niner Two. 1992: First win at Atlantic Coast Championships, competing in Group 4. This elaborate show featured songs from Disney's Beauty and the Beast, complete with set pieces, tarps, and dancing characters. Characters included in the show were Mrs. Potts, Lumiere, Cogsworth, and Chip. The band edged out Carlisle High School (Carlisle, PA), who finished in 2nd place, to bring home this trophy. The band director at this time was Michael Snyder. 2003: This was a successful year for the band which won every competition it entered up to the Tournament of Bands Atlantic Coast championship. 2005: The 2005 show was entitled "A Suite For Winter". The band claimed 1st place prize on the night of November 12, 2005 at Lackawanna County Stadium in Moosic, PA. The band won first place in Group 3 with a score of 98.80, the highest score ever in TOB history (tying